Can't wait for the game!

I'm glad to hear so much care is being taken to balance Bayonetta. My hope for this game is that it will surpass the original Devil May Cry in the areas of combat and enemy design. Since the subject of Eijiro's posting was the second of these, that's what I'll discuss here. I think that Devil May Cry's enemies are effective because 1) they have a large variety of attacks (and gain unique ones on higher difficulties), and 2) they have superb animation that is not only beautiful but provides cues to attentive players, who can use them to decide whether to evade or attack.

The first factor, attack variety, is really key. So many modern actions games have enemies whose move sets are terribly limited. The most elaborate combat system in the world can't make up for opponents that bore you with the same attacks. One of the reasons that the first Devil May Cry is a constant pleasure to play is the enemies are capable of surprising even highly experienced players. Making enemies deal enormous damage like those in Ninja Gaiden is not enough. If Bayonetta is to have lasting value, its enemies must have a robust arsenal of abilities that challenge players to come up with creative strategies, and higher difficulty levels must offer more than the enemy damage increase that seems to have become the standard in lazy game development.

The second factor, animation, might be something players don't often think about, but its importance to game balance is substantial. In Devil May Cry, enemies' attack cues are very clear. Each move's animation is accompanied by a distinct sound to let players know danger is coming their way. A game without these visual and aural cues can quickly become frustrating. As an action game fan, I'm very pleased that Eijiro, a person with direct influence on Bayonetta' development, seems to understand this very important point.

As always, thanks to PlatinumGames for providing this wonderful way for fans to connect with developers. I look forward to more Bayonetta news straight from the people who are making the game. One request: If a demo is in the works, as Eijiro seems to hint, PLEASE make it available through PSN and Xbox Live several months before the release of the full game!

Cause pursuing a hardcore audience with extreme difficulty does nothing more than limit the audience that would be interested in the game.

I hope to hear more about the game from the team!…cause I already had the game fully preordered and payed off a long time ago.

I hope the enemies will be VERY hard in Bayonetta.

And reading about how you develop them also makes me see them differently. I always saw the ready animations but never paid attention to them, even though I always reacted to them. Hearing the purpose for them makes me appreciate them more.

Anyway, I can agree with Mr. Eijiro with not making a game too hardcore. But at the same time I hope you include some kind of insanely impossible difficulty with all kinds of crazy attack animations that are harder to read. I know that does take a lot more time, but I always like it when hard modes totally change the experience, especially when the same old enemy suddenly has new attacks and new animations.